Fort Worth Billionaire David Bonderman has Died

Private equity titan David Bonderman has died at age 82, leaving behind an indelible mark on the multiple sectors he helped influence over his lifetime, including real estate.

Bonderman’s career spanned numerous industries, but his real estate dealings are often overlooked in discussions of his vast influence, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Throughout his career, Bonderman, best known for his role in founding Fort Worth-based TPG Capital, used the firm’s formidable capital base to take strategic positions in some of the most iconic transactions of the past few decades.

One of the most notable deals was TPG’s involvement in the 2008 acquisition of Caesars Entertainment, which included a vast collection of casinos and resorts.

The real estate-heavy nature of the deal allowed TPG to control some of the most valuable assets in the hospitality industry. Bonderman’s vision was clear: invest in underperforming assets that, with the right restructuring, could become profitable.

“He’s a brilliant man, and I don’t give that label easily,” Tony James, a longtime friend and former executive vice chairman of rival Blackstone, said in a 2017 interview. “He likes deals that are creative, and he’s prepared to do things that others aren’t.”

Bonderman also earned acclaim for his contributions to historic preservation law, notably helping save New York City’s Grand Central Station through a friend-of-the-court brief for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

He also authored the 1978 District of Columbia law protecting non-federal landmarks in the nation’s capital. A 1983 National Trust article praised him as one of America’s top preservation lawyers, highlighting his impressive record of winning 19 out of 20 preservation-related cases, often against significant odds.

In terms of his personal holdings, Bonderman owned a 536-acre estate in Snowmass Village, Colorado, and a beachfront resort on St. Barts in the Caribbean.

— Andrew Terrell